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Community Vision for the Adaptive Reuse of Schenley High School | OPDC

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Community Vision for the Adaptive Reuse of Schenley High School July 27, 2012

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T

he community is currently creating a vision for the adaptive reuse of the Schenley High School building in advance of its likely sale to a developer by the Pittsburgh

Public Schools.

OPDC is working with partners from Oakland and the Hill District to finalize this report and present it at the School Board meeting in August. Community members are encouraged to send letters with their input to Linda Lane and copy President Hazuda and the members of the board, as well as Councilman Peduto.

Send letters to:

Please copy:

Dr. Linda S. Lane, Superintendent

The Office of Councilman William Peduto

Pittsburgh Public Schools

510 City-County Building

341 S. Bellefield Ave.

414 Grant Street

Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Pittsburgh, PA 15219

CC: President Hazuda; Members of the

email: bill.peduto@pittsburghpa.gov

Board email: boardoffice@pghboe.net Schenley High Schools sits in this School Board District: William Isler (District 4) Board of Education Pittsburgh Public Schools 341 S. Bellefield Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15213 email: boardoffice@pghboe.net

http://www.opdc.org/news/community-vision-for-the-adaptive-reuse-of-schenley-high-school/

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Community Vision for the Adaptive Reuse of Schenley High School | OPDC

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email: isler@fredrogers.org Please use this webpage to provide your comments, feedback and ideas regarding the future of this building: Meeting Materials

Click here to view the presentation from the June 27th public meeting.

Click here to read the minutes from the June 27th public meeting.

Click here to view the presentation from the July 11th public meeting.

Click here to view the presentation from the final meeting on July 25th.

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17 Comments to "Community Vision for the Adaptive Reuse of Schenley High School"

Welcome to the Schenley High School adaptive reuse plan comments forum!

REPLY

Rebekkah June 28, 2012

As a graduate of Schenley High School I was sadden to see this beautiful building taken away from the community. In my era, 50′s, 60′s and 70′s this school Sharon HugheMorris July 24, 2012

was a melting pot of opportunity for young people of the Hill District, Oakland, Lawrenceville, Bloomfield and parts of East Liberty. I hope this building will continue to serve the community in some capacity and will not be turned into another condo or building servicing just the university. Though the Universities have created jobs they were also part of a master plan that callously depleted many beloved neighborhoods. Universities and colleges are suppose to find solutions to populus problems not devalue some people while making opportunities for just a few. I hope the city and others will take this opportunity to put something back in the Schenley High School Building for the people in these communties.

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1. There clearly is a lot of support for asking the BOE to reopen Schenley. There is also substantial support for reusing the building as some sort of residential or Carol July 26, 2012

mixed use . It is not accurate to say that the visoning process should emphacize the “community” supports reopening.

There are multiple opinions in the community – which keeps getting larger. The largest commnity may be taxpayers of the city that want the school district to lower it’s costs and to put this property back on the tax rolls.

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2. The City paper article is being misrepresented. The asbestos story is the headline but the article mentions the fact that there were multiple reasons for its closing.

The article did not explore what the other reasons were.

Both issues should be explored. It is not accurate to say that “but for the asbestos” the school would be open today.

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It would be great to see an aquaponics operation or green roof incorporated into the use of the building. Depending on who operated it and their business model, It could help to feed the Christina July 2, 2012

local community, create jobs and/or provide job training.

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I would love to see the first floor of this magnificent building turned into an incubator site for small, budding businesses (particularly those from depressed neighborhoods) and those A. V. Robinson July 2, 2012

agencies that can work with them to assist them with technical, financial and other business services (SBA, CEED, etc.) Then, with the rest of the building, apartments for seniors.

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I believe that the Board of Education should NOT sell Schenley.

It is an asset to the city and to the public schools, and should be considered for re-opening as a high school again, Cynthia Golden July 3, 2012

especially given the apparent lack of an asbestos problem. Its athletic facilities could be put to immediate use, and due care and consideration given to a plan for repairs to the classroom spaces for future generations, when funding can be found. I believe the city will regret the sale of this magnificent space in years to come. I hope the Board does the right thing.

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I wholeheartedly agree. It’s an insult to the cultural diversity that Schenley brought to the Pittsburgh Community if the high school is not reopened.

Simon Noel July 23, 2012

Moreover, the memory of athletic greats can only be preserved if the school is preserved.

I never attended Schenley, but consider myself “of Schenley”.

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Green: Recent calculations indicate that it takes 35-50 years for an energy efficient new building to save the amount of energy lost in demolishing an existing building. New Melissa July 4, 2012

construction, no matter how green, consumes energy, creates greenhouse gases, and generates landfill waste. Moreover, building a new, energy-efficient home entails an often-

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Community Vision for the Adaptive Reuse of Schenley High School | OPDC

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overlooked environmental cost: the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere during construction. According to a study by the Empty Homes Agency called “New Tricks with Old Bricks,” offsetting that carbon emission can take as long as 50 years. So, by reusing Schenley we will be doing the green thing!

Possible Re-Use: Getting the building on the tax roll with so much city land already tax exempt is of importance, but we should not over look a tax-exempt institution. We have examples in other residential neighborhoods of schools, churches, and other structures turned into offices and community centers – presumably tax exempt entities (Wilkins School in Regent Sq, Wightman School in Squirrel Hill, and Union Project in Highland Park).

Condos and/or rental apartments. It is my understanding that the Uptown school on 5th Ave (formerly Excel Kitchen) will be converted to apartments and seems to be a positive example of adaptive reuse. A rental for people in the medical and university fields including possible interns, grad students, adjunct faculty, sabbatical replacement, etc. is very conceivable given the location. And what if it did have some other business: café, yoga /exercise studio, etc. and some offices as well. The tenants and surrounding neighbors could make use of and support these businesses and nearby Centre Ave businesses.

While I understand that others are against this idea, remaining open to some form of student housing (perhaps as part of a mixed use) could be explored. I am a landlord to undergrad Pitt and CMU students and have had a very favorable experience. There could be a variety of ways to control the situation. With proper management, it could be limited to students who are involved in community service, honors students, etc. Also there could be a mandated mix of grad and undergrads and restrict the undergrads to juniors and seniors (or just seniors).

Small business incubator space (perhaps as part of mixeduse). Various grants and tax credits go to support this.

Perhaps as an Oakland extension of Uptown’s incubator – with great access to Pitt and CMU. Of course, we could all brainstorm with various mixed use ideas – from nonprofits and office space to antiques malls, day care, restaurants, rock climbing walls, an athletic club using the gym/ swimming pool, and various other businesses!

Marketing to developers: I believe the quality of the marketing process will determine the quality of the actual project.

National developers may be interested in Pgh, but they do not know what we have available. If the marketing process is not far-ranging, then we may have limited options. If there is a more aggressive RFP process going nationally and even internationally who knows what might be proposed! The various stakeholders/community members should be able to hear developers’ proposals and have some input beyond this process.

How do we connect to businesses – local and national – that may be seeking such a space, but may not know of our great Schenley building?

Construction phase: Construction phase sensitivity as well as

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Community Vision for the Adaptive Reuse of Schenley High School | OPDC

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careful thinking about long term impact (parking, trash collection, etc.)! Given the residential area, there should be no trash collection between the hours of 11 pm and 7 am.

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Hi, Fantastic presentation highlighting the history and qualities of Robert Schmidt July 5, 2012

the school. It is also wonderful to see the community being proactive in thinking of alternative possibilities for the school.

Would the love to be kept updated on the process and would be interested in case studying the building for our research – http://www.adaptablefutures.com REPLY

I believe that the Schenley building should retain, in some way, its mission – education. Schenley’s motto was “Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Serve” and her alums as well as the greater Kelly Mednis July 6, 2012

community would be well served with a continued vision for learning in this space. I think the BOE is short sighted in its plan to sell the building but if they can’t be good stewards of the space then I hope the next group to take over will be visionaries. The Schenley Plaza space to me is an example of respecting Mary Schenley’s vision, maintaining ‘green’ characteristics, improving the community, and seeing space for more than just square footage. The school could be a bookend for that style of mixed-community public/private space. I also think that Schenley served a diverse population for over 100 years, so I hope that her future will serve more than one population, whether that be seniors, students, or businesses.

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In my opinion, Schenley High School should stay has it has always been, a school. It’s a true gem. Magnificent architecture. Brilliant lighting. PPS let this building suffer. I was Megan Vaites July 6, 2012

just there on a tour not long ago and it made me sick. They have left it alone to deteriorate. PPS has spent a ton of money on other buildings that are still not sufficient to house high school students (gym size, lack of a pool, etc.). Schenley sits in the heart of Oakland, with unbelievable access to some of the best museums, universities, and facilities, all within a student’s reach while in high school. Fix the school. Add to it’s legacy by returning it to it’s glory. “Enter to learn. Go forth to serve.” PPS owes her the chance to do it again. Putting the money into this building will be an investment, both in history, the futre, and the thousands of children that would walk her halls. Is there no way we can do fundraising to help the cause?

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All the ideas for mixed uses are very interesting interesting. I was not involved in the opposition to the closing and am wondering whether these ideas were raised with the BOE at that time.

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Community Vision for the Adaptive Reuse of Schenley High School | OPDC

Carol July 6, 2012

7/30/12 2:27 PM

Were these ideas were raised last fall when the BOE almost sold Schenley for peanuts. Can anyone comment? It might help understand the position of the Board of Ed. and the resolve of the community.

There were a few people who tried to reason with the Board at their public meetings. THe Board was clearly not in the business of selling real estate. They were very concerned about the liabilities the building represents. Anyone have ideas to give to the board about addressing the costs of maintaining the building and handling the debt associated with the building as a way of buying time for an effective marketing program?

I echo Melissa’s comments on marketing. There was none last fall. There are option. THe Board needs to hear this loud and clear.

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Obviously, Oakland needs a public school.

If that isn’t going to happen, I would love to see a small holly rassnick July 8, 2012

Continuous Care Retirement Community come to this location.

While there are a few CCRCs in the suburbs, I am not familiar with any within the city. A CCRC could use the auditorium for programs & the swimming pool & gym for physical therapy.

UPMC is affiliated with some retirement communities, as are several religious denominations. This is a largely selfish suggestion, since I would love to be able to stay in Oakland as I get older.

My other favorite, and possibly most realistic, idea would be to have mixed income housing in the building. There are several successful mixed income developments all around Pittsburgh.

This could be a wonderful opportunity to draw the community together & still have a profitable business venture that would increase the tax base. The Urban Redevelopment Authority is a good resource for more information: http://ura.org/working_with_us/projects.php REPLY

I’ve heard of a couple of groups in Pittsburgh looking into cohousing. Any possibility of getting them interested in Schenley?

Hanson July 10, 2012

I would also reinforce the CCRC idea. I know anything like that would take time to organize, but nothing will happen overnight.

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As a neighbor to Schenley HS and as a tax-payer, my vote would be for Schenley to reopen as what it was built to be: a public school. The Board made a huge mistake taking away Nearby Neighbor July 11, 2012

this school from its long-time neighbors and should work to repair the damages done by reopening the school.

REPLY

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Schenley HS should be converted into a research facility — and based on where it is located it should focus on the new sciences used in biomedical advancements.

Frank Sowa July 11, 2012

These should include but not be limited to resolving many of the special health needs of our returning military veterans.

(While DoD research and technology in this area is top of the line — think of how much more value it would have if it could be fast-tracked into the civilian-sectors beginning in the fine medical centers we possess in Pittsburgh-OaklandLawrenceville.) R&D at CMU, UPMC (separate from Pitt), the University of Pittsburgh, Chatham University, Carlow, and West Penn/Allegheny Hospitals, Children’s, and supported by the Catholic, Muslim, Jewish; Masonic and other associations with biomedical research foundations that are based in Oakland — this should be a highly-successful venture.

Some of the specific areas to include would be medical devices, medical robotics, speech recognition systems, biometric recognition systems, genetics, human genomics, radiology, biomedical memistor research, surgical wire and spring technologies, magnetics, metamaterials, laser-based technologies, bioinformatics, bioengineering, pharmacological research, medical devices. advanced prosthetic devices, advanced prosthetic creative design, exoskelatal research, neuroscience, brain/machine link systems, OT and PT advancements, biomedical advancements for the elderly, and so forth.

The first floor could hold a university sponsored incubator; and a VC-sponsored business accelerator along with training facilities. Another floor could be dedicated to networked engineering for the R&D laboratories.

Such a research facility would first continue the work of schooling to meet the local needs of those who feel this mission is essential in Oakland. Second, it would benefit (intellectually and financially) and tap into the entire community as indicated above. Third it would create jobs (labs need a support staff — and that staff can get trained in new skills that will progress them in the 21st Century workforce).

Fourth it may keep more biomedical investment in the Greater Pittsburgh Area rather than initiating it here, then moving elsewhere or offshore for the acceleration phase and beyond.

Fifth, culturally, it would do a lot to continue shifting the Oakland culture in the right direction for optimal survival in the 21st Century.

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Sell the place. Use the money to improve the schools that remain open. Oakland has a high occupancy rate for office space, so it should be a relatively easy process. Pitt, CMU, Rich E July 12, 2012

UPMC, Walnut Capital, Mosites, or someone like American Eagle willing to commit to the city.

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